Bhubaneswar: In NITI Aayog's Healthcare Rankings Odisha has dropped by one position from 18 to 19 in the NITI Aayog's 'Healthy States Progressive India' rankings which was published on Tuesday.

For the base year 2015-16 Odisha's position was 18 with 39.43 points whereas for the reference year 2017-18, Odisha stood at 19th position with a score of 35.97.

Today, Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das issued a clarification on this matter stating that there was a delay in submitting the latest healthcare status due to the election season.

"Our statistics have not been submitted for the year 2017-18 with the NITI Aayog (Centre) for which the rankings are not accurate. Once the updated data is submitted and incorporated in the report, our rank will rise much high in the NITI Aayog health index,” he added.

The Minister went on to say that the Centre has acknowledged Odisha’s bid for eradication of malaria, best OPD services and several other verticals of healthcare. “Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s dream is ‘healthcare for all’ and we are positively heading to achieve it,” he said.